US baby boomers urged to get tested for hepatitis C

IT KILLS more people in the US than AIDS. It is also the country's leading cause of liver transplants. To curb the huge number of hepatitis-related deaths, the US is recommending that all baby boomers be tested for hepatitis C.

About 3.2 million people in the US are thought to be infected with the virus - two million of them born between 1945 and 1965, the baby-boom generation, who are partly at risk of having caught the virus through drug use or receiving blood transfusions before screening became widespread in 1992.

Through one-off blood tests, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts, 800,000 new infections will be identified and 120,000 hepatitis-related deaths will be avoided in this age group. Most people with the virus are symptomless, so are unaware they have it. A three-drug treatment can now cure about 79 per cent of people with the disease.

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